I don’t usually write about Black Friday Cyber Monday. It’s only because there are dozens and dozens of articles out there already.
Well, something compelled me to write about Black Friday Cyber Monday this year.
Here it goes….
Earlier this week, after our 2023 strategy call, my client told me that she had recommended The Intelligence Group to her new friend who owns a coaching business, and her friend never prepares for Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM).
She said her friend’s (Julie) marketing agency told her not to bother, that Black Friday and Cyber Monday is only for big retailers or brick and mortar stores. They told her it wouldn’t do her any good.
“What tha…!” came out of my mouth. Really, those 2 words were all I said.
At our initial consultation, Julie told me she’s always had the feeling that she should do “something” for Black Friday Cyber Monday. However, she’s been with her agency for 2 years, so she just trusted what they told her.
I explained the reasons, statistics, as well as case studies from our other coaching clients whose sales explode every year during Black Friday Cyber Monday, and Julie’s face turned red.
Long story short, we earned another happy client.
Yes, you should begin preparing for Black Friday Cyber Monday in August or even earlier. We at The Intelligence Group start consulting with our clients from August through September. We formulate a multi-channel battle plan and the 1st email usually goes out at the end of September.
What if you’re like Julie and haven’t done anything to prepare for Black Friday Cyber Monday? Is it too late for you.
The answer is no.
As I write this, on Saturday Nov 5, it’s not too late but you need to act fast.
You can still put together a plan and begin executing them next week.
You’ll need to be concise with your plan and start with tasks that will have the most impact.
Below is a list of my recommendations. Choose the ones you can do and skip the rest (or send us a message).
If your products have high margins, you should be able to easily offer a too-good-to-resist promotion.
Even if your products or services have low margins, there still might be a way for you to offer something smaller. Try bundling products or services or offer payment plans. See if BOGO offers or extra loyalty points can work for you.
Whatever your chosen promotions are, be sure to create urgency. Add countdowns and show shrinking inventory (when it’s true) to encourage your shoppers to buy from you instead of someone else.
If you have an ecommerce store, you need to be sure your website can handle a big surge of visitors. Ask your web host if your hosting plan can handle it. If not, ask them to add capacity in memory, storage and bandwidth until after the holiday.
All reputable web hosts can do this for you. If you’re one of the unfortunate ones with a lousy web host, switch ecommerce web host immediately. Your new, reputable ecommerce web host will transfer your existing website for free.
If you don’t have an ecommerce store, you can still use landing pages to sell your products and services.
Need help choosing a good host or need a landing page? Go ahead an reach out.
You want your online store shopping experience to be easy and quick for your customers. This is especially true during Black Friday Cyber Monday because your customers have a lot of shopping to do.
Here is a list of must-haves for your online store. Do as much as you can.
BONUS tip: add a live chat widget and be sure you have staff who will respond quickly.
Email marketing has always been the highest converting medium. If you’re not doing any email marketing, start now.
Normally, you should have a bunch of emails all written and scheduled. Since you’re late for the game, write emails as you go.
Write and send out 1 email next week as soon as you finalize your promotional offers and your website or landing page is ready to go. Then, keep writing and sending them every other day. As you get closer to Black Friday Cyber Monday, send multiple emails per day to remind them of your promotions.
Engagement on social media goes up as much as 968.5% year-over-year on Black Friday in 2020.
Just like email marketing, post to social media as soon as possible. Every time you send an email, do a social media post.
If your budget allows, run ads to tell your audience about your promotions. Start your ads immediately thru Cyber Monday.
To save time, use the same image or graphics you use for your social media posts.
You still have time to run ads. Don’t miss out on this.
BONUS tip: run remarketing ads to target your past visitors and customers.
For those who’s interested. I did ask who Julie’s agency was. It’s not one of my white label agencies or I could not have taken her as a client.
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